Fight Them with Books

S. D. A. Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 10, 1884

FromThe Signs of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 2

Fight Them with Books.

A VERY pious lady in a town in Illinois, not many years ago, was pondering how she could be most useful in promoting the spiritual welfare of the people. She finally settled upon this plan; to purchase with her own money a carefully selected library of interesting and appropriate books, and lend them gratuitously to such persons as she could induce to read them. She was not wealthy, but had received a small sum of money as her portion of her recently deceased mother's estate. A portion of this money was expended for the library of religious books. This proved to be quite as profitable an investment, financially considered, as many a less considerate Christian has put into silver-mining or petroleum stocks. The books obtained, she visits from house to house; calls the attention of each lady friend to such a book as she deems most suitable to her present spiritual condition, and leaves it with her to read. The entire field was gradually cultivated by this kind of judicious labor, and well covered with the seed of books. Never obtrusive, never giving offense, cautiously and kindly feeling her way to the sanctuary of the heart, she worked on patiently like the secret agencies of nature, with little noise and no pretension, until, after weeks of delay, the signs of hopeful promise appeared. The result was that, with other laborers in the field, a powerful and widespread reformation swept over and through the town, in which many nearly hopeless cases were happily and thoroughly converted to God.—Temperance Advocate.